By Louse Robson
Lecture capture at the University of Sheffield
In the 2017/18 academic year the University of Sheffield launched an opt out institutional approach to lecture capture. Since then we have recorded thousands of lectures.
For example, in the 2023/24 academic year there were 44,735 recordings and 21,608 student users, who clocked up an impressive 883,997 views.
The literature shows that students value lecture capture, although staff continue to raise concerns (Dommett et al., 2020). In this blog I want to share data from student surveys on what they think about lecture capture and how they are using it, to showcase the importance of captures in providing an inclusive learning environment that supports learning for all.
Do students value lecture captures?
Data from two ethically approved surveys with second and third year students in Biosciences clearly shows that students value having access to lecture captures. When asked whether lecture captures supported their learning, 97% of the students either strongly agreed, or agreed with this statement, figure 1.
Figure 1: Student responses to the question “does lecture capture support your learning”. SA - strongly agree, A - agree, N - neutral, D - disagree, SD - strongly disagree
There were a number of comments that highlighted the value.
“It is very difficult to take notes and also keep up with the lecture. I would be very behind if it weren't for lecture capture allowing me to get back and listen to challenging concepts”.
“I find encore lecture capture so important. I struggle with focusing in traditional lectures so always re-watch them”.
How and why are students using lecture capture?
For 37 Year 3 students, a more in depth evaluation was completed. In response to a series of questions, the majority of students, (92%), stated that they preferred both live lectures and lecture captures.
They were using the captures to help them with parts of the lecture they didn’t understand (89%), and to enhance their exam revision (78%). 62% of students said they had reduced anxiety about the module, and 95% of students felt that their understanding of the topics was improved. More in-depth data can be found in the supplemental document (table 1).
A thematic analysis of the free text comments revealed a number of key themes, and provided some important contextual information on the value of the lecture captures to students. The most common theme was the value students placed on being able to go back over content and concepts from lectures, with this mentioned by 22 students.
Other comments mentioned the value of lecture capture as a supplement to attending the live lecture. Others mentioned the value of being able to catch up when they had missed lectures due to interviews and being ill.
Another area that came out of the survey, was the value for students who had long term health issues, or specific learning differences. While this was only mentioned by a few students, for those who raised it, it was clear that lecture capture was transformative in terms of supporting their learning.
There was a particularly powerful quote from a student, which for me highlights the importance of providing lecture capture to support learning for all.
“I suffer from autoimmune inflammatory arthritis and had a serious flare up the second week into the semester meaning I missed some lectures. When this has happened in the past I've suffered from anxiety over the missed lectures or forced myself to walk to lectures making my condition worse. Having lecture capture meant I could stay at home and recover properly without missing out on information and it's been a major relief”.
More in depth analysis can be found in the supplemental document (table 2)
My take home messages!
The blog so far has covered what students think, but why do I think we should be providing lecture captures? Well, there are a number of reasons, which are essentially the same:
- Students sometimes have to miss lectures for valid reasons, whether a short term illness, attending an interview or having to work. Indeed, in the current financial climate we know that students are working more hours than they were previously (see this Wonkhe article).
- Sometimes students miss things in lectures, or need to go back and reflect on challenging concepts and ideas.
- Some students have specific learning differences, and having access to the lecture captures helps level the playing field.
- Some students actually don’t know they have a specific learning difference, and having access to the lecture captures also helps them.
- Some students have chronic health conditions, that means they struggle to attend campus sometimes.
- Some students have to commute to university, and might miss some sessions.
- Some students have caring responsibilities, e.g. doing the school run, and may miss early lectures as a consequence.
The bottom line is that by providing lecture captures we can support the learning of our wonderfully diverse student community.
Of course, it is also important that students use lecture captures effectively (Nordmann et. al. 2022), and we cannot just assume they know! By providing guidance to students (Nordmann et. al. 2022, Nordmann et.al. Student support guides for lecture capture, University of Sheffield guidance for students) we help them see how to effectively embed the use of lecture captures into their learning approaches, so that it is a tool that enhances their learning experience.
References:
Dickinson, J. (2024) There are too many students at university. But not for the reasons some say. WONKHE
Dommett, E.J., Gardner, B., van Tilburg, W. (2020) Staff and students perception of lecture capture. The Internet and Higher Education: 46, 100732, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2020.100732.
Nordmann, E., Küepper-Tetzel, C. E., Robson, L., Phillipson, S., Lipan, G. I., & McGeorge, P. (2022). Lecture capture: Practical recommendations for students and instructors. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 8(3), 174–193. https://doi.org/10.1037/stl0000190
Nordmann, E., Küepper-Tetzel, C. E., Robson, L., Phillipson, S., Lipan, G. I., & McGeorge, P. (2022). Student support guides for lecture capture.
University of Sheffield student support for lecture capture.
Professor Louise Robson is Professor of Digital Innovation in Learning & Teaching at the School of Biosciences